THE long-term future of more than 3,000 North East car workers was secured today.

Nissan this morning announced it will build a new compact soft-roader at its Washington plant, starting in 2010.

While it was confirmed manufacture of the Micra model would shift to the Chennai plant in India, the model’s production staff will be retained to work on the new car, as yet unnamed.

More than 1,300 workers at the Washington plant and 2,000 in the site’s supply chain have been told their contracts are safe.

And an unspecified number of new jobs could be created, a spokesman told the Chronicle.

The decision was revealed during a visit by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Nissan’s European Design Centre in central London.

The Government has backed the new project with a £6.2m pledge aimed at safeguarding the UK’s greatest car exporter.

Mr Brown met Nissan president Carlos Ghosn, who said: “By delivering on tough commitments, our employees at Washington have demonstrated our plant can be a globally-competitive centre for the production of high-value products.

“We are encouraged by the proactive support shown by the British government to decide new products for the plant.”

The Prime Minister said: “Nissan is a global manufacturer with strong roots in Britain and I’m pleased to welcome its new investment in the UK.

“Today’s announcement that a brand new car is to be designed and built in the UK is another important boost to our manufacturing industry, and builds upon Nissan’s recent commitments to increase investment and jobs at its record-breaking Washington plant.”

Business secretary John Hutton confirmed the Government would support the scheme – with the whole investment in the UK totalling more than £55m.

Alan Clarke, One NorthEast chief executive, said: “This is another vote of confidence for the site and its fantastic workforce.

“We have worked closely with both Nissan and the Government. It is further proof of the plant’s ability to successfully compete in high value, global manufacturing and is tremendous news for the wider North East economy.”

The Micra has been made at the plant since 1992 but will finally go to Nissan’s new Asia plant in India.

In 2001, the Chronicle launched a campaign to keep the Micra in Britain in 2001 after the car manufacturer wanted to move production to France. We battled to keep the Micra in Washington to safeguard 1,200 jobs at the plant and more than 3,000 jobs in the supply chain. The campaign was won in 2001 when the £235m contract was awarded to Washington.

The new vehicle, still at the design stage, will take up the manufacturing capacity when production of the Micra ends in two years. The new model will rival the Fiat Sedici and Suzuki SX4 in the small car market.